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The Fluid turns it on again for army of fans

Images from The Fluid's reunion show at the Larimer Lounge June 15, 2008. Photos by John Moore, The Denver Post.

Even with a flurry of local bands signing with major labels over the past three years, the Fluid remains one of the most revered groups ever to come from these parts. And the news that the hallowed five-piece rock band is back together, if only for a few shows, has many local fans salivating at the chance to see their heroes one more time.

Back in the 1980s, the Fluid was the first non-Seattle band signed to Sub Pop Records, now considered one of the top indie labels in the country. The Fluid inspired young musicians all over the U.S., from Kurt Cobain to Eddie Vedder, to write their own music and start a band.

The Fluid shared a split 7-inch single with Nirvana — the Fluid's "Candy" on one side, Nirvana's "Molly's Lips" on the other — a piece of vinyl that regularly now draws upward of $100 on eBay.

John Robinson, The Fluid (John Moore)

And the band also headlined many shows with Nirvana, Mudhoney and the Afghan Whigs opening.

After nearly 15 years of silence, the band has reformed for a couple of reunion shows in the next month, including one tonight at the Bluebird Theater and another July 12 at Seattle's Marymoor Park as a part of the Sub Pop 20th Anniversary Festival. The reunion shows are generating an unreal amount of buzz — some of which was seen on Sunday when the band played an unannounced near- sellout show at the Larimer Lounge.

"It was almost just like old times," singer John Robinson said earlier this week, looking toned and tan and sitting next to the modest pool at his north Denver hotel. "The (Sunday) show felt great.

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We did this for a long time, and if you make that choice when you're a young person, that's who you are forever."

Three of the band's players — guitarists James Clower and Rick Kulwicki and bassist Matt Bischoff — still live in Denver, but Robinson splits his time between New York City and Austin while drummer Garrett Shavlik calls Seattle home. At the band's not-so-secret show on Sunday, the band sounded tremendous — forceful, invigorated, honest and visceral. (Read our review and see the pictures and video at denvereverb.com.) They're all in their mid-40s, sure, but none of them have forgotten how to rock.

And that's remarkable, because the last time the Fluid played a show was August of 1993. The band was tired of Sub Pop's lack of organization and accounting skills, and they jumped to the majors with that year's "Purplemetalflakemusic" on Hollywood Records — a switch that was one of the many nails in the coffin for the band.

Shavlik eventually left the group. They tried re-forming, but it wasn't the same. People were stressing about money, and their label, a bonafide newbie, didn't know what to do with them. "We were a democracy that hadn't elected a leader," Robinson said. "It didn't help that we didn't know how to communicate."

And so the band's five members went their own ways, leading Robinson to a career as an advertising set designer for companies as varied as Stoli and Target. Last year, he attended a Sup Pop showcase at the CMJ Music Marathon in New York to see Band of Horses, and he ran into the label's Megan Jasper and Jonathan Poneman.

"They were both complimentary about the band and reverent about the position we played in Seattle in the '80s," Robinson said. "The Fluid's shows were always scene-unifying shows in Seattle, where people from all over the spectrum would come together, they said. And we knew our shows there were crazy, but we didn't know they were any different from other people's shows.

John Robinson and The Fluid drew plenty of
bodily fluids at Sunday's sweaty reunion set at
the Larimer Lounge. They'll do so again tonight
at the Bluebird. (John Moore, The Denver Post)

"

Robinson then e-mailed Kulwicki and the rest of the band, and after a few apologetic phone calls — "There were some hard feelings, but that was 15 years ago," Robinson said — the decision was made. They wanted to play Seattle, but first they wanted Denver. The band has been rehearsing in various incarnations the past few months, and its unannounced show at the Larimer Lounge was proof that they haven't lost a step.

The show also raised the question of the Fluid's general status in rock history. They were, and are, an epic rock band that influenced many. So why isn't it celebrated on the scale of bands like the Pixies or the Wipers?

Seattle-based producer Jack Endino has his theories. Endino — who produced the Fluid's fourth record, "Roadmouth," and the Nirvana debut "Bleach" nearly back to back in 1989 — once told Robinson that the Fluid was either 10 years too late or five years too early.

"He thought we could have been huge in that post-glam, pre-punk era or the '90s rock explosion," Robinson said. "My response: We knew the people who claimed us as influences. Kurt Cobain, Billy Corgan, Eddie Vedder. It sets up an interesting question: If the Fluid didn't exist when we did, would the '90s rock explosion have been what it was?"

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